Vicky Hartzler

Mrs. HARTZLER

Mrs. HARTZLER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the safe return of an 11-member section of the Missouri National Guard's Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 3rd Battalion, 135th Theater Aviation Battalion, of Lebanon, MO. I want to commend them for their selfless service and sacrifice over the past year of their deployment to Joint Base Balad, Iraq, in support of Operation New Dawn. They were tasked with providing 24-hour-a-day command and control, supervision, staff planning, personnel service and logistical support to all units attached to the theater aviation battalion. The unit used fixed-wing aircraft to provide services to a forward deployed aviation. This allowed for the air movement of cargo, personnel, and dignitaries from the United States, NATO, and Iraq. The section of returning Soldiers is commanded by Capt. Seth Everett, who lives in St. Louis, MO. Other members of the unit live in Lebanon, Eldon, Versailles, Linn Creek, Mountain Grove, Dixon, Liberal, Dexter, Hallsville, and Jefferson City. The unit was previously deployed to Balad in 2005. Without soldiers like those in the 3-135th, we would not enjoy the freedoms we have today, and I am eternally grateful for their service. It is only fitting that they return home safely to their families and loved ones. In closing, Mr. Speaker, I ask all my colleagues to join me in welcoming home the members of the 3-135th, and thanking them for their continued sacrifice as members of the Armed Forces.

Mrs. HARTZLER

Mrs. HARTZLER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the safe return of 10 Missouri National Guardsmen from the 4175th Military Police Detachment Criminal Investigation Division. The soldiers are returning from a nearly year-long deployment to Iraq and Afghanistan. They were responsible for conducting criminal investigations for the Army. The group consists of Soldiers from Jefferson City, Columbia, O'Fallon, High Ridge, Hannibal, and St. Charles. The unit commander is Chief Warrant Officer 2 Timothy Forney, of Hannibal, MO. Without Soldiers like those in the 4175th CID, we would not enjoy the freedoms we have today, and I am eternally grateful for their service. It is only fitting that they return home safely to their families and loved ones. In closing, Mr. Speaker, I ask all my colleagues to join me in welcoming home the members of the 4175th CID, and thanking them for their continued sacrifice as members of the Armed Forces.

Mrs. HARTZLER

Mrs. HARTZLER. Mr. Chairman, I wholeheartedly support this amendment, which saves taxpayers from funding a duplicate study which is unnecessary, wasteful, and ill-advised. The Corps of Engineers just completed a 15-year study at a cost of $35 million. The Missouri River Master Water Control Manual has been published, and businesses, municipalities and utilities have been planning accordingly. There is no need to restudy the issue of the Missouri River again at an additional cost of $25 million. Farmers, businesses and cities in Missouri's Fourth Congressional District support this amendment, and I urge my colleagues to support this commonsense proposal.

Mrs. HARTZLER

Mrs. HARTZLER. I rise to enter into a colloquy with the gentleman from Florida. I stand today to support our brave military men and women and their families who sacrifice in the service of freedom. Mr. Chairman, can you assure me that this bill will not in any way harm or put to risk our troops?

Mrs. HARTZLER. I rise in support of this amendment. Planned Parenthood has funded abortion from the taxpayer for too long. It has been said that this is a threat to women's health. Well, Planned Parenthood isn't about health. It's about profit. They have a record of preferring abortion over the truth. I have seen firsthand their view of truth. Several years ago I was a teacher, and I taught child development. I had a student who came to me who just found out that she was pregnant. The night before, she had visited a Planned Parenthood clinic to discuss her options. She was 4 weeks along. She asked a simple question, What does it look like? The answer? Oh, don't worry about it. It's just a blob of tissue. They encouraged her to have an abortion; but, thankfully, she wanted more information. She and a friend came to me for information. They wanted to know if I had pictures of what a fetus looked like at 4 weeks old, since I taught child development. I did. She looked at the pictures of the baby with its developing fingers and eyes and a beating heart. Her response? She was shocked. That's not a blob of tissue. That's a baby. And then she asked this question: Why would they tell me that, Mrs. Hartzler? Sadly, I didn't have an answer. They didn't care about the truth. They didn't care about the young woman before them. They cared about a profit. This pattern continues with recent revelations that they were willing to cover up child sexual trafficking and child sexual abuse and aid and abet prostitution. Where was Planned Parenthood when they had a chance to protect young women? They turned a blind eye. I'd call it a war against young women. And yet this organization received $363 million of revenue a year from you and me, the taxpayer. Hardworking men and women in this country should not have to write a check on April 15 to fund these abominable practices. At a time when we are borrowing 40 cents out of every dollar we spend and running a huge deficit, we need to look for savings to the taxpayer wherever we can. Certainly, saving $363 million from this abortion provider is a smart and a right thing to do, so that all Americans, born and unborn, will have the opportunity to enjoy the blessings and the rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. So as a woman and a mother and a former teacher, I am proud to support the Pence amendment, and I ask all my colleagues to stand on the side of truth, life, and the young women of this country. Madam Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mrs. HARTZLER. I yield to the gentleman.

Mrs. HARTZLER. Madam Chair, I move to strike the last word.

Mrs. HARTZLER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. As you know, in our Constitution one of the few things that we're supposed to do here is to provide for the common defense, and I know I'm committed to doing that, and I know you're committed to doing that, and yet we have this continuing resolution, and so that certainly makes me feel more confident that in our efforts that our troops are being watched out for and their families. So I thank you for that commitment, and will you continue to promise to work with me through this coming year to move forward to ensure that our troops and their families are supplied with all that they need?

Mrs. HARTZLER. Thank you very much for your commitment. I look forward to it.

Mrs. HARTZLER. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the last word.

Mrs. HARTZLER

Mrs. HARTZLER. Madam Speaker, I rise today as a lifelong farmer in support of House Resolution 72. My family has been involved in farming for generations. My Granddad Zellmer raised corn and threshed wheat with the help of neighbors as a threshing crew. My Granddad Purdy was a cowboy, raising Hereford cattle. Like today's farmers, they worked hard--investing their lives and resources to make a living for themselves and to feed the world. They would be shocked today by the amount of government interference in farming today and by the overreach of government. The EPA is advancing numerous proposals that are harmful to agriculture. One rule wants to regulate dust on our farms. They call it ``air quality.'' Where I'm from, it's called ``living in the country.'' In case the bureaucrats in Washington haven't heard, driving on a gravel road and planting seeds in soil make dust. We don't need Washington to regulate dust. We need common sense. The EPA wants to do more. It is reviewing again the registration of atrazine, which is a common, useful herbicide that has been used safely for over 50 years. This product encourages the protection of soil and less dust by using no-till agriculture. It is time to get government out of agriculture and to preserve the farming heritage my parents and grandparents and so many others have passed on to future generations.

Mrs. HARTZLER

Mrs. HARTZLER. Members on the opposite side of the aisle said we need to be passing a jobs bill. Well, this is a jobs bill, because I can testify, as a person who's newly elected and been on the campaign trail for a while, that in the Fourth District we had small businesses that are not hiring and not expanding because of the health care bill. We have got to repeal this so that we can create more jobs. I am a small business owner myself, and I can tell you, since this has passed, that health insurance premiums have skyrocketed in anticipation of the mandate that is going to be forced on them. So, if we want to get serious about creating jobs, we need to start by repealing this. This is also a bill to rein in the runaway spending that is devastating our country, and it's mortgaging our children's future. As a mother, that's important to me. This bill put another $1.2 trillion of debt on our country. We cannot afford that. Lastly, this is a freedom bill. The people in my district do not want the government telling them they have to buy a private product and then mandating what is in that product. That is unconstitutional. By passing this last year, you have taken away my freedom, the freedom of the people of the Fourth District, and the freedom of this country. We deserve better.

Mrs. HARTZLER

Mrs. HARTZLER. ``Thereafter, when the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that no inability exists, he shall resume the powers and duties of his office unless the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive department or of such other body as Congress may by law provide . . . ''